Improvement in sewing-machine casters



.l. E SMITH.

Sewing-Machine Casters. No, 143,387 PatentedSeptember30,l873. 7

UNITED STA ES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES E. SMITH, OF SHARPSBURG, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND THOMAS J. PETERS, OF OWINGSVILLE, KENTUCKY.

. IMPROVEMENT IN SEWING-MACHINE CASTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 143,387, dated September 30, 1873; application filed.

' April 16, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J AMIES E. SMITH, of Sharpsburg, Bath county Kentucky, have invented a new and useful ewing'Machine Oaster, of which the following is a specification:

My invention relates to a caster for sewingmachines, readily capable of being placed in one of two positions, in which its efl'ects are, respectively, to permit the machine to be easily wheeled or trundled from place to place, or to firmly hold the machine against displace ment, at the option of the user. my invention consists in constructing the caster with a roller whose gudgeons occupy curved slots in the housing, and whose periphery is corrugated and may be made to engage with a detent or be released therefrom at will.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a sewingmachine frame furnished with a pair of my improved casters. Figs. 2 and 8 are, respectively, a side elevation and a vertical section of a caster embodying my invention, the roller being in its free position. V Figs. 4 and 5 are, respectively, a side elevation and a vertical section of the same caster, the roller being in its locked position. The four last-named figures are of full size.

A may represent any sewing-machine frame or table, adapted to be readily wheeled about, or to be retained in any desired place at will, by means of four casters, of which two, B B, may be of the common .kind, and of which two, 0 G, are adapted for being made either free to roll or to be locked or prevented from rolling by the following means: The housings D D have the represented curved or semicircular slots d, instead of the customary circular,

orifices, for the gudgeons e of the rollers E, and said rollers, instead of being smooth, have their peripheries scored or indented with a congeries of longitudinal corrugation s, c, which, when To this end the roller occupies the position shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, offer no opposition to the rotation of the roller about its gudgeons, but which, in the position shown in Figs. 4 and 5, become engaged with a fixed detent, F, so as to lock the roller, and thus effectually prevent its ro-,

tation. The housing D D of eachroller has the usual stem or spindle Gr secured and rotating within a bracket, H, which may have lips h adapted to enclasp the dovetailed extremities I of the legs J of the frame, and be securely attached thereto by means of screws or pins K. V

The slots 01 may be of sufficient curvature, as represented, to enable the gudgeons to remain securely in the locked or unlocked condition until changed by slightly lifting the machine and shifting the roller by hand, or they may be formed sufficiently shallow to enable the roller to assume the locked or the unlocked condition by simply wheeling the machine forward or backward.

. The rollers may, if desired, be swiveled directly to the legs of the sewing-machine frame.

Although two of my improved casters will be sufficient, it is evident that all four of the casters may be of the said improved form.

- I claim as new and of my invention A locking and releasing caster, whose roller is corrugated on its periphery e to engage in one position with its detent F, and in its other position to be fi'ee therefrom, its gudgeons c occupying, for this purpose, curved slots din the housing D, substantially as set forth.

In testimony of which invention I hereunto set my hand.

J. E. SMITH.

Attest GEO. H. KNIGHT, H. ScHooNMAImR. 

